{"id":29316,"date":"2026-09-07T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/en\/latvia-b2b-e-invoicing-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T07:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:00:02","slug":"latvian-yritysten-valinen-verkkolaskutus-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/fi\/latvian-yritysten-valinen-verkkolaskutus-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvian yritysten v\u00e4linen verkkolaskutus vuonna 2026: Mik\u00e4 on pakollista ja mik\u00e4 ei"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is B2B e-invoicing already mandatory in Latvia in 2026?<\/h2>\n

Picture an ordinary invoice: one Latvian limited-liability company (SIA) billing another SIA for a service or a shipment of goods. In 2026, that invoice still doesn’t have to take the form of a structured e-invoice, a machine-readable version of the invoice that accounting systems can process automatically, as opposed to a document meant for a person to read. The obligation to use one arrives later. Under the transitional provisions of the Accounting Law<\/a>, starting January 1, 2028, every company registered in Latvia that invoices another Latvian company will have to issue a structured e-invoice and, at the same time, submit that invoice’s data to the State Revenue Service (VID). That deadline was originally set for 2026, but an amendment that took effect on June 12, 2025 pushed it back two years.<\/p>\n

Invoices sent to budget institutions, meaning ministries, municipalities and similar public bodies, sit on a different timeline. E-invoicing there has been mandatory since January 1, 2025<\/a>, and submitting that invoice data to VID became mandatory on January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

This is where the confusion starts. People notice the January 2026 date attached to public-sector invoicing and assume it applies to everyone, concluding that “e-invoicing is already mandatory.” It isn’t, at least not for ordinary B2B trade. The Accounting Law<\/a> sets the B2B submission obligation to begin on January 1, 2028. It doesn’t explicitly describe what happens before that date, but the only reasonable reading is that in 2026 and 2027, submitting structured e-invoice data for B2B transactions is not yet a legal requirement.<\/p>\n

How do you check whether your buyer is a business or a budget institution?<\/h2>\n

Before deciding how to format an invoice, check who’s on the receiving end. If the buyer is a ministry, a municipality or another budget institution, a structured e-invoice is already the only form VID will accept. VID explains<\/a> that “budget institution,” in the sense the Accounting Law uses it, covers budget-funded bodies, derived public entities that are partly financed from the state budget, and non-budget-funded institutions. You can check where a specific counterparty falls by looking up its registration number in the Central Statistical Bureau’s register. If your buyer is simply an SIA, an AS (joint-stock company) or a self-employed person, in other words a private business rather than part of the public administration, you can keep sending a plain PDF in 2026, and that’s entirely legal.<\/p>\n

What actually counts as a structured e-invoice in Latvia?<\/h2>\n

A PDF attached to an email is a document meant for a person to read, not a structured e-invoice, no matter how well-formatted it looks. A system can’t process it automatically. A structured e-invoice, as the law defines it<\/a>, is instead prepared, sent and received as a machine-readable XML file (a text format built for software to read directly, rather than for a person) that complies with the European standard EN 16931. In practice, that means the XML file’s structure has to follow the UBL 2.1 and PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0<\/a> specifications, technical rule sets that define exactly which fields an invoice must contain and how they’re labeled. It’s the same format already running between government agencies. If your accounting software already has this export function, there’s nothing stopping you from switching it on for B2B invoices in 2026, even though no law requires it yet.<\/p>\n

What are the four practical ways to send a B2B e-invoice in 2026?<\/h2>\n

Cabinet Regulation No. 749<\/a> sets out several delivery channels, and you can mix and match them:<\/p>\n